Ndagukunda

We’re getting  accustomed to these once a week minimum trips to Kigali.  And why not?  Everything is easier in Kigali.  The food is better, things work, the never ending hurdles just don’t seem to be there.  So today we were on our way back to the big city.  We just hung around the house and worked until we took the 12 o clock bus out of town.

We went to Dream Inn, our new hotel of choice, and they didn’t have two available rooms.  But they did have one person sleeping in a room with two beds, and the receptionist was confident that she could move them to the one available single room, and then we could share the two-bed room together.  Sounded good.  We left our stuff and went to get something to eat.  I left my money at the hotel, so since Kara was buying she also got to pick and Bourbon it was.  I protested, but since I wasn’t paying, I had no say.  I wanted to check out something new.  Next time.

While we were at Bourbon, we got a call from Liz inviting us over for drinks.  She is the Rwandan board member of BBR who married a Canadian guy two weeks ago (well at least it was the Rwandan ceremony) that we attended.  From Bourbon we called our man Cassim, he took us to the hotel to actually check in, and then drove us to where Paul and Elizabeth are staying.  They were staying at the beautiful house where the wedding took place.  At first it was just Paul, Liz, Paul’s mother, and the three of us.  But slowly throughout the night, more and more friends and relatives kept arriving.  There was a TON of alcohol, and quite a few people by the end of it.  Two of the guys who showed up were Rwandan musicians/singers who both performed at the wedding, and were really good.  It was sweet to chat with them.

My absolute favorite part of the night came in the form of a hilarious misunderstanding.  Paul’s mother, a sweet older lady, somehow mistakenly came to believe that Lama and Kara were married.  And she asked Kara a question and non-chalantly dropped the word husband in, in reference to Lama.  Kara wasn’t phased, and I think neither of us were not sure if that is what we just heard, but I almost burst out laughing.  I bit my knuckles instead.  The reason it was so funny was because it was out of nowhere.  She totally made that up for herself, no one was insinuating that they were a couple, so I was just surprised.  Kara answered the question diplomatically, not agreeing or disagreeing with the comment.  Later in the night though, Paul’s mom came over, kneeled down and placed her hand on Kara and said, “So tell me, how did you fall in love with Lama?”  This time we both laughed out loud, and Kara explained that she was not in love Lama.  Lama was her boss.  Man it was funny.

It was getting later in the evening and we needed to get going, because one of the reason’s we came Wednesday was so Lama could have an extra day to spend with his mother.  It was almost 9 o clock.  But Liz insisted we eat something before we leave, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.  She also insisted that my glass of Amarula stay full.  I tried to say no, and she just kept pouring it, and each glass got bigger.  I was getting pretty tipsy, or maybe by definition legaly drunk.  At least food was coming.  They brought out huge metal trays full of food, buffet style.  It was pretty impressive and pretty good too.  I was thankful to finally be eating something to go along with my belly full of booze.  We ate, and  then stayed probably the minimum polite amount of time after eating before leaving.  Lama went one way and Kara and I went the other.  The night time moto was improved my alcohol induced vertigo.

Back at the hotel, we turned on the news, did a bit of web surfing and I was just done for.  I feel asleep within probably 15 minutes.